A Night of Sharing (Part 3)
by Mr.Duck
Summary: The trial begins. Anakin has some hunches so he goes off to collect clues


Anakin slowly opened his eyes. To his suprise, he was alone. He was almsot positive that Amidala was close by. He was alone. He wishes she was there, he needed someone to talk to. Anakin attempted to sit up. 

"Ah!" 

Pain burst in his chest and he fell back to the pillows. Suddenly, Sabe` walked in. 

"Good morning Ani." 

"Good morning..." 

"The trial starts today. Are you well enough to testify?"she asked. 

Anakin was confused. 

"What trial?" he asked. 

"Of the two murders and the Queen's attack, I came in here a few days ago and talked to you about it. They got the guys name that was stabbed. " 

A few days? Talking? 

"What? I don't remember that," said Anakin. 

"You were hurt badly. You were in the bacta for a long time. Can you remember what happened a few days ago? About Amidala's attacker and how you were shot?" she asked. 

"I remember," said Anakin. 

Suddenly Obi-Wan walked into the room. 

"Then get dressed," he said. 

"Master!" 

Sabe` walked out of the room. 

"Anakin, you should have told me about Amidala. We have to decide who is telling the truth here. Did Amidala mean to kill someone? She says she stabbed someone who was attacking her. We have found no body but he did find a man who was shot through the stomach. Witnesses say that was your work...and that is his," said Obi-Wan pointing at Anakin's bandage. 

"Who do you believe?" asked Anakin. 

"The queen...and you of course! I can sense you are both telling the truth!" 

"Well, I have to be at the trial," said Anakin as he climbed out of bed. He then grabbed his clothes, and entered the bathroom. 

Amidala looked down at her lap. Some of her own people didn't believe her. The queen turned her head and looked out the windows. The whole room was surrounded by windows. She sat close to the end of a long, narrow table. Guards, law officers, and other venerable people sat around her. The floor was so bright and shiny. The light reflected off of it and created a show of colors under her feet. It cheered her up some but she still had a long way to go. 

"Right here," said the guard, opening the door. 

Anakin limped in. He saw Amidala at the end of the table. She wore a blue-green, strapless dress. Her wrists had fluffy blue cloth tied around them . She was amazingly beautiful. Her hair was down and lay sofly against her chest. She looked sad but strong. Anakin walked over to her and sat down. 

"Hey," he whispered. 

"I'm so glad you're feeling better. I was so worried," she said. 

"Thanks. They actually think you killed that guy?" 

"I did!" 

"Yeah but you didn't just walk up to him and stab him. They don't have a body yet either. All they have is blood and your knife. Then they have that other guy's body. Funny he didn't survive, it was only a shot to the stomach." 

"He was dead before your blast hit him," said Amidala. 

"What?" 

"Yeah, he was shot by someone else." 

"Wow!" 

Suddenly, a judge stepped forward. 

"We come here today to disguse a few recent...acts of violence in our city." 

After a small introduction, Amidala was told to tell her side of the story. Anakin listened carefully. She hadn't given him a highly detailed summary of the incident. It didn't sound like there was any clue of Amidala being targeted. 

"Thank you. Now we have another view of it from Jedi apprentice Anakin Skywalker who was shot during the incident...Anakin." 

Anakin tried to stand up but found himself falling back to the chair. 

He gave his account of the incident and hoped it was believable. 

"Thank you. We will resume at the same time tomorrow," said the judge. 

Anakin quickly looked at the judge's shirt. 

"Deiter Haverneck," he whispered. 

"What?" as Amidala. 

"The judge's name. The prosocuters are going to be looking for motive. I'm going to look up his court file and find out anything about the guy that was stabbed," said Anakin. 

"I'm coming with you. I can't leave the palace but- 

"Fine," said Anakin. 

Anakin's fingers ran across the keyboard. He looked at everything even remotely related to the Queen or anything Royal. Amidala stared out the window. 

"Find anything yet?" 

"Nope." 

The Queen sigh. 

"Ani, I wish this wasn't happening. If everything was the way it was before all of this, we could be doing things together, taking walks, talking, and by now we would have...um..." 

Anakin stopped typing and walked over to her. He kissed her forehead and held her tight. 

"This will be over soon, and we'll be able to do anything we want. There is one plus though." 

"What?" asked Amidala. 

"We never would have gotten our feelings out," said Anakin. 

"Yeah." 

"I love you," Anakin said under his breath. 

Amidala looked up at him and pressed her lips against his. She wished they could do this all of the time. Anakin made her feel so safe and special, she wanted to make him feel the same way. Anakin slowly broke off the kiss and looked at the citizen ID screen on the other side of his bedroom. 

"That guy's name that was stabbed was Ryco Lif. One witness says he saw some guy with a bleeding stomach running around and he identified him. His file says his son killed three guard once when they tried to arrest him for threating people with a gun." 

"I remember that. I had this friend...he was my age. We knew each other since we were like 6 and he became a guard. It was his first day," said Amidala. 

"I'm sorry, Ami. I never knew that." 

"Then they killed the guy," said Amidala, paying no attention to Anakin. 

"He was your friend, it says he was a great friend of the royal family, they were going to get him to marry you even. Then some guy comes and kills him, then the guards kill that guy, then you..." 

"What?" asked Amidala. 

"Get revenge on his father!" said Anakin. 

"He was an orphan!" said Amidala. 

"The judge can edit these files," said Anakin, "I think I might be abel to help you...I'll see you tomorrow at the trial. Don't worry." 

And with that he left the room. 

Anakin looked at the ground. Samples of blood had been taken but some still lay on the cement. He pulled a tube from his belt and scraped some blood into it. His Jedi senses were kicking ina nd he was sure he could solve this case. The Jedi looked up at the roof. He remembered catching a glimce of someone shoot at Amidala. While still aiming at her, a blaster shot came towards him. He remembered being shot. Then another shot came and he deflected it. The second the blast hit his saber, the man on the roof fell. It never could have reached him. He remebered seeing a tail sticking from the sun above right before he passed out. 

"A tail," he whispered. 

The event happened at about 1:00. It was 12:58. Anakin took out his saber and positioned it at the spot he figured he had hit the blast back. He knew he was standing right because sticks where the bodies were sat next to him. 1:00! He looked at the sun and imagined where the tail had been. He lined it up straight from were he had deflected the shot. It pointed straight at a tall tower about 6 buildings away. 

"I hope this works," he said to himself as he entered the building. It was a hotel. He walked to the turbolift and pushed "up". This was all crazy but he had to try to figure it out. The lfit stopped at the top floor and he got out. He looked out a window and saw the tower sticking from the building. It was the right floor. The Jedi saw an open door and looked at the sign. 

"Tower Suite." He stepped in and walked up a small flight of stairs. He was in the tower. It was a hotel room. He walked to the balcony and looked out. He could see the building were he and another had been shot. A small hole was dented into the wall next to the balcony. He examined it and figured it just an ordinary hole. Suddenly, something caught his eye. Drops of red stained the rug under his feet. He knelt down and realized it was blood. He pulled another tube from his belt and dropped some into it. 

"Hmmm," was all he could say. 

Suddenly someone walked in. 

"Judge Dieter!" 

"What are you doing here?" 

"I-I- just wanted to talk to you about the case," said Anakin. 

"Ah, yes. Your friend Amidala is in quite a bit of trouble." 

"Why do you think the jury will decide she murdered Ryco?" 

"We have found new motive in the case. Plus, everything points to her," said Deiter." 

"Don't be so sure she did it," said Anakin, " and why are you at the hotel?" 

"I live on the other side of the city. I wanted to be close to the trial," said Deiter, "listen, this may be a long conversation. I'll go get us something to drink." 

Anakin didn't sit down, he only needed a few more pieces of evidence. Dieter walked back into the living room and handed Anakin a cup. The Jedi concentrated on the judge's cup. Suddenly, it shattered in dropped from his hand and shattered on the floor. He knelt down to fix it and yelled as he cut his hand. Anakin got onto the floor and helped clean up. 

"Nice view from here, huh?" asked Anakin. 

"This is really not the time," said the judge, looking out the window. 

Anakin quickly grabbed the piece of the cup with the blood on it and dropped it into another small test tube. 

"I'm sorry but I really have to be going, " said Anakin as he walked out the door, "thanks for the drinks." 


End file.
